{"podcast":{"title":"Machines Like Us","slug":"machines-like-us-97796","podcast_index_feed_id":97796,"rss_url":"https://feeds.simplecast.com/FJSi7gLl","website_url":"https://www.theglobeandmail.com/podcasts/machines-like-us/?token=s3d","image_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/5829159f-6973-4aae-be8c-2e4a6cf3b1a8/51c9ed6a-5439-45e0-9ede-c50bba95a992/3000x3000/mlu-final-apr23.jpg?aid=rss_feed","author":"The Globe and Mail","episode_count":51,"summary":"Machines Like Us is a technology show about people. We are living in an age of breakthroughs propelled by advances in artificial intelligence. Technologies that were once the realm of science fiction will become our reality: robot best friends, bespoke gene editing, brain implants that make us smarter. Every other Tuesday Taylor Owen sits down with the people shaping this rapidly approaching future. He’ll speak with entrepreneurs building world-changing technologies, lawmakers trying to ensure they’re safe, and journalists and scholars working to understand how they’re transforming our lives.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-21T22:18:08.692236+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/machines-like-us-97796"},"episode":{"title":"Social Media Bans Are Wildly Popular. They Might Also Be a Mistake.","slug":"social-media-bans-are-wildly-popular-they-might-also-be-a-mistake","published_at":"2026-06-09T10:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/machines-like-us-97796/social-media-bans-are-wildly-popular-they-might-also-be-a-mistake","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/machines-like-us-97796","url":"https://www.theglobeandmail.com/podcasts/machines-like-us/?token=s3d","audio_url":"https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/afp-119681-injected.calisto.simplecastaudio.com/7862a9c5-dc9a-4d42-9fcd-d04ed44df073/episodes/422a7fab-30ac-4d06-8fe9-9bf520eced3f/audio/128/default.mp3?aid=rss_feed&awCollectionId=7862a9c5-dc9a-4d42-9fcd-d04ed44df073&awEpisodeId=422a7fab-30ac-4d06-8fe9-9bf520eced3f&feed=FJSi7gLl","summary":"Towards the end of last year, Australia did something no other country had ever tried: it banned social media for kids under 16. And a bunch of others are following with similar laws, first Denmark, then France, then Indonesia and Austria. All in, there are now more than 25 countries that have either implemented, or are actively considering, social media bans for kids. It seems like Canada is moving there as well. In April, the Liberal party adopted a non-binding motion to restrict young people’s access to both social media and AI chatbots. All over the world, you can hear parents breathing a sigh of relief. They’ve spent the last decade watching their kids become hooked on their devices, and now we’re doing something about it. It looks like we’re finally going to get our kids back. But researchers like Candice Odgers are skeptical. Odgers is a psychology professor at UC Irvine who’s been studying the digital lives of young people for almost 20 years now, long before anyone was worried about what social media was doing to their brains. She says there isn’t really any research to suggest these bans will work. But her argument goes even deeper than that: she says the idea that smartphones have caused a youth mental health crisis just isn’t supported by the evidence. So as governments all over the world start to kick kids off social media, and maybe even AI chatbots as well, Candice Odgers thinks we’re making a serious mistake. And I want to know if she’s right.","meta_description":"Towards the end of last year, Australia did something no other country had ever tried: it banned social media for kids under 16. And a bunch of others are…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3496,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/machines-like-us-97796/episodes/social-media-bans-are-wildly-popular-they-might-also-be-a-mistake/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/machines-like-us-97796/social-media-bans-are-wildly-popular-they-might-also-be-a-mistake.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}